Electric circuit controlling appliance



Jan.3,1933. J, SACHS 1,s92,ss4

ELECTRIC CIRCUIT CONTROLLING APPLIANCE Filed Oct. 14, 1931 Invent U2. 105527 555/75 .5 ,J. barz ej Patented Jan. 3, 1933 PATENT oFFrcs JOSEPHSACHS, OF WEST EAIBAIII'OEI), GONNECTICU '1' ELECTRIC CIRCUITCONTROLLING APPLIANCE I Appkication filed October 14, 1931. Serial No.588,807..

The present invention relates particularly to electric circuitcontrolling devices of the type described in my Patents No. 1,754,445

and. No. 1,790,324 dated respectively April 15 15, 1930 and January 71931.

The principal ob]ect of the present inven-v tion is to provide a switchof this general type having an improved arrangement and mounting for thestationary switch contacts in order 10 to insure effective engagementbetween the contacts under all conditions. The improved construction isparticularly advantageous for relatively small and inexpensive switchesin which it is difiicult to avoid minor inaccuraciesin the sizes andspacings of the contacts without adjustment and fitting.

In the. accompanying drawing I have shown the embodiment of theinvention which I now prefer, but it will be understood that the drawingis for illustrative purposes only and is not to be construed as definingor limiting the scope of the invention, the claims forming a art of thisspecification being relied upon or that purpose.

Of the drawing: 4

Fig. 1 is a front view of a switch embodying the invention, a portion ofthe front cover of the enclosing cabinet being broken awa as is also apart of the plate carrying the se contacts.

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the switch shown in Fig. 1, the enclosingcabinet being shown in section. I v

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line 3-3of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the stationary switch contacts andthe supporting device thereof, certain parts being broken in order thatother parts may more clearly ap- 40 pear.

Figs. 5 and 6 are diagrammatic views illustrating the advantages of thenovel contact mounting herein shown and described.

The switch embodying the invention is particularly adapted to be mountedwithin an enclosing cabinet, such as 1, and it'is so shown. The cabinet1 may be of any usual or preferred construction and is illustrated asbeing rectangular in form with an openable front cover 2. The rear walland the wall by means of a metal bracket 8.

side wallsof the cabinet serve to support the various parts of theswitch;

As shown, there are two separate switching devices for two legs of acircuit, but it will be understood that the exact number is immaterial.For the sake of convenience and simplicity of description, I willconfine the description chiefly to those parts at the right side, itbeing understood that the other parts are, or may be similar oridentical in 00 construction.

Secured to the rear supporting wall, in this case the rear wall of thecabinet 1, is an insulating supporting device 3 held in place by screws4, 4. Carried by the supporting us device 3 are two opposed stationaryswitch contacts 5 and 6 having at their inner sides parallel contactfaces. Preferably the stationary contacts are so arranged that theirsaid contact faces are vertical and are perpendicular to the rearsupporting wall.

When fuse contacts are associated with the switch contacts, there ispreferably provided at the front of the said switch contacts aninsulating plate 7 which is substantially arallel with the rearsupporting wall. arious means may be provided for supporting the plate7, but preferably and as shown the supporting device 3 is maderelatively thick and the upper portion of the plate 7 contacts directlywith the front face of the said su porting device. The lower portion ofti; plate 7 is connected with the rear sup orting ounted on theinsulating plat 7 are fuse contacts 9 and 10. The upper contact 9 isconnected with a conductor 11 having a portion 11 which is offset towardthe rear and which projects into a hole 7 formed in the plate 7. Therear face of the offset portion 11" is substantially flush with the rearface of the plate 7 and is electrically connected with the switchcontact 6 as hereinafter described. The lower fuse contact 10 isconnected with a conductor 12 secured tothe plate 7. A wire terminal 13is electrically connected with .the stationary switch contact 5 andasecond wire terminal 14 is electrically connected with the conductor.12 and thus with the lower fuse contact 10.

For making and breaking the circuit between the stationary switchcontacts 5 and 6, I provide a switching member which preferably ismovable in a vertical rectilinear path. When, a front insulating platesuch as 7 is provided, the switching member moves at the rear of saidplate. The switching member comprises an insulating element 15 and aconducting contact 16. The insulating element 15 is preferably a thinflat plate which is vertical and which is perpendicular to the rearsupporting wall. The contact 16 extends through a slot in the flatinsulating element and is provided with substantially parallel outwardfacing contact faces adapted to electrically engage the respectivecontact faces of the contacts 5 and 6.

The switching member as an entirety is preferably guided for rectilinearmovement between the insulating supporting device 3 at the rear and theplate 7 at the front. The insulating device 3 and the plate 7 areprovided respectively with grooves 17 and 18 for receiving the edgeportions of the insulating element 15, but it will be observed thatthese grooves are wider than the said element so as to permit theswitching member to adjust itself transversely without being closelylimited by the walls of the grooves. Preferably the insulating element15 has a rearward extension 15 which is adapted to engage the rear wallof the cabinet which thus serves as an additional guide for the movableswitching member.

For operating the switching member there is provided a cranked operatingmember 19 which is pivotally mounted in suitable apertures or hearingsin the opposite side wall of.

the cabinet 1. The crank portion of the operating member extends througha slot 20 in the insulating element 15 of the switching memher. Whenthere are two or more switching members as shown they are all operatedby the same operating member. Carried by or connected with the operatingmember is a handle 21 and as shown this handle is an integral part ofthe operating member.

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawing show the switch parts in their closedcircuit positions, the handle 21 being in its uppermost position. Itwill be obvious that by moving the handle 21 downward the switchingmembers will be moved upward, thus disengaging each movable contact 16from the corresponding stationary contacts 5 and 6. In this way thecircuit is broken at two places and at the same time the flat insulatingelement 15 is interposed between the two stationary contacts 5 and 6thus serving as an insulating barrier between them.

The two stationary contacts 5 and 6 are preferably formed fromrelatively resilient material and they are positioned with theirlongithdinal lines substantially perpendicular to the direction ofmovement of the switching member. In the present instance, wherein theswitching member moves vertically, the longitudinal lines of thecontacts 5 and 6 are horizontal. The means for mounting or supportingthe respective stationary contacts 5 and 6 are at the opposite endsthereof, that is, in the present instance, one of them is supported atthe rear and the other is supported at the front.

The details of the supporting means for the contacts 5 and 6 may bevaried, but preferably and as shown most clearly in Fig. 4 thesupporting device 3 is formed with a relatively large vertical passage22 at the sides of which the said contacts 5 and 6 are located andthrough which the switching member moves. The passage 22 is enlarged atone side as indicated at 22 and the contact 5 is provided with a rightangle extension 5 which engages the rear wall of the enlarged portion 22of the passage. The extension 5 is held in place by means of screws 23and 24, the latter screw being also engaged by a nut 24 which serves tohold the before-mentioned wire terminal13. The stationary contact 6 isprovided with a right angle extension 6 which is seated in a shallowrecess at the front of the supporting device 3. It is held in place bymeans of a screw 25, this same screw extending through the conductor 11and being engaged by a nut 25. The contact 6 is sufficiently spaced fromthe adjacent wall of the passage 22 to permit limited fiexure. It willbe seen that the nut 25 cooperating with the screw 25 serves not only tohold the conductor 11 in firm electrical engagement with the contactextension 6, but also serves to hold the plate 7 in proper position withrespect to the supporting device 3.

Inasmuch as the two contacts 5 and 6 are supported at their respectivelyopposite ends they are free for transverse flexure in substantialparallelism in conformity with the thickness of the movable contact 16.In order to insure good electrical engagement between the contacts, themovable contact 16 is so formed that the distance between its oppositecontacts is slightly greater than the distance between the faces of thecontacts 5 and 6. If there are inaccuracies of manufacture thisdifference may in some instances he abnormally large, and then the novelmounting of the contacts becomes particularly important. This will bemore apparent from an inspection of the diagrammatic Figs. 5 and 6wherein the aforesaid difference in dimensions is greatly exaggerated.

Fig. 5 shows two contacts 5' and 6 mounted in accordance with priorpractice. A. movable contact 16 has been pushed between them but onaccount of inaccuracies -in manufacture the distance between the facesof the contact '16 is considerably greater than the distance between thefaces of the two contacts 5' and 6. The result is that the Fig. 6 issimilar to Fig. 5, but shows contacts 5 and 6 mounted in accordance withthe present invention. Here again it is assumed that the distancebetween the faces of the contact 16 is considerably greater than the,

210 distance between the faces of the two contacts 5 and 6. It will beobserved,however, that by reason of the opposite mountin the twocontacts 5 and 6 remainv substantlally parallel when they are flexed inconformity with the thickness of the contact 16. As the contact 16 movesbetween the contacts 5 and 6 it flexes them, with the result that,notwithstanding the described variations, good electrical contact isobtained over the entire surfaces of the contacts. It will be observedthat freedom of the switching member for transverse adjustment permitsit to assume an an ular position as indicated.

referably I provide insulatin walls imof the opposite contact aces ofthe contact 16. One of these walls isformed integrally with theinsulating supporting device 3, being in fact one of the side walls ofthe vertical passage 22 as indicated at 22". The other insulating wallis formed by means of a separate insulating plate 26. adjacent thestationary contact 5. Preferably the plate 26 is formed with a smallextension 26 at the rear, which projects into a corresponding hole inthe supporting device 3. In this way the late 26 is held againstvertical movement.

ovement in the forward direction is prevented by the front plate 7. Thetwo insu- 4 lating walls at 22 and 26-prevent the expansion of any arethat may be formed and also serve to absorb the heat of the arc, thusmaterially aiding in the prompt extinguishin thereof.

at I claim is: g A

1. In an electric switch, the combination of a movable switch contacthaving two opposite parallel contact faces, two stationary switchcontacts at opposite sides of the path of move- 5Q 'ment of the movablecontact with the longitudinal lines of the said contacts substantial- 1yperpendicular to the direction of such movement, the'said stationarycontacts having opposite parallel contact faces adapted 5 to be engagedand disengaged by the respective contact faces of the movable contact,and means at opposite ends of'the respective stationary contacts forsupporting them" in such manner as to leave'them free for transverseflexure in. substantial parallelism.

2. In an electric switch, the combination of a rectilinearly movableswitching member comprising an insulating element guided at its edgesand also comprising a contact on the-said insulating element having twoopmediately adjacent the. aths o movement sulating positeparallelcontact faces, two stationary resilient switch contacts at oppositesideso'f the path of rectilinear movement of the switching member withthe longitudinal lines of the said contacts substantially. perpendicularto the direction of such movement,

the said stationary contacts having opposite parallel contact facesadapted tobe engaged and disengaged by the respective contact faces ofthe movable contact, and means at opposite ends of the respectivestationary contacts for supporting them in such manner as to leave themfree for transverse flexure in substantial parallelism when engaged bythe movable contact.

3. In an electric switch, the combination of a movable switch contacthaving two opposite parallel contact faces, two stationary resilientswitch contacts at opposite sides of the path of rectilinear movement ofthe movable contact with the longitudinal lines of the said contactssubstantially perpendicular to the direction of such movement, the

j said stationary contacts having opposite parallel contact facesadapted to be enga ed and disengaged by the respective contact aces ofthe movable contact,'and an insulating supporting device engaging thesaid stationary contacts at o posite ends thereof and supporting them 1nsuch manner as to leave them free for transverse flexure in substantialparallelism when engaged by the movablecontact.

- 4. In an electric switch, the combination of a rectilinearly movablecontact having two opposite parallel contact faces, an insupportingdevice having a passage therein through which the said contact moves,and two stationary resilient switch contacts at opposite sides of thepassage and of the path of movement of the movable contact and havingopposite parallel contact faces adapted to be engaged and disengagedbythe respective contact faces of the mov able contact, one of thecontacts being connected with the supporting device at the frontof thepassage and projecting rearward and the other being connected with thesupporting device at the rear of the passage and projecting forward andboth of them being free for transverse flexure when engaged by themovable contact.

5. In an electric switch, the combination.

of a rectilinearly movable switching member comprising an insulatingelement with a longitudinal guiding edge and also comprising a contacton the said insulating element having two opposite parallel contactfaces, an insulating supporting device having a'pa'ssage therein throughwhich the switching member moves, the bottom wall of the passageengaging the said guiding edge of the insulating element, and twostationary resilient switch contacts at opposite sides of the passageand'of the path of movement of the switching member and hev'in teparallel contact faces adapted to u an disengaged by the respectivecontact aces of the movable contact, one of the contacts being connectedwith the supporting device at the front of the passa e and projectingreerward and the other being connected with the supporting device at therear of the passage and projecting forward and both of them being freefor transverse fiexure when engaged by the movable contact.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 10th day oiOctober, 1931.

JOSEPH SACHS.

